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Protesters at Rutgers rallied against Rice’s planned appearance because of her involvement in the Iraq War, prompting her to cancel. Rove singled out Robert Boikess, a Rutgers University organic chemistry professor who drafted a resolution calling on the school’s administration to “rescind its misguided decision.”

“This was politically motivated, politically aimed, ideologically driven and stupid. They didn’t even have their facts right,” Rove said, adding that the students were wrong in asserting that waterboarding is torture, a stance disputed by the Bush administration and some others.

“This is political correctness gone nuts,” Rove continued, adding that he thought Rice handled the situation very well.

Rice, former national security adviser and secretary of state in the Bush administration, announced over the weekend that she would not speak at Rutgers University’s commencement. Protesters wrote an open letter to the Rutgers administration, saying that her appearance on campus would be “encouraging and perpetuating a world that justifies torture and debases humanity.”

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Rice wrote that her invitation from the university had “become a distraction for the university community at this very special time” and that she has decided not to attend.

Rove and Rice served together in the Bush administration from 2001-2007 as top administration officials during the Iraq War and Bush’s successful reelection bid in 2004.

Rove said the university was hypocritical, since it allowed Hillary Clinton to speak at the university in 2007. Clinton voted in 2002 in favor of authorizing the Iraq War when she served as a New York senator.